The Federal Emergency Management Agency has funded a new Web game dubbed …

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In an attempt to raise awareness of disaster preparedness, the American College of Emergency Physicians has teamed up with casual games publisher and developer Legacy Interactive to create Disaster Hero. The game, which is being funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will aim to educate players on the different types of disasters and how to be prepared in the event that they happen.

In the game, players will take on the role of the titular Disaster Hero as he visits different families, helping them prepare for various disasters including earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The game itself will consist of a mish-mash of genres, covering everything from time management and puzzles to quizzes and hidden object scenes.

Players will also get to experience "simulation gameplay," which aims to teach them usable skills, such as applying pressure to stop bleeding.

An early screenshot of Disaster Hero

"This project to develop an educational program for children using a game platform will be a unique approach to teaching kids to have an active role in home disaster planning," ACEP President Dr. Angela Gardner said. “ACEP is pleased to partner with many other stakeholders representing teachers, schools, daycare centers and youth organizations in the development of this program.”

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45 Reader Comments

The first episode should take place in New Orleans and cover Katrina and the Gulf Coast Spill. They can set future episodes in Liberty City (after it gets hit by a hurricane) and San Andreas (after it breaks off into the ocean). An expansion pack could go over-seas in pursuit of a tsunami.

Tilt your controller to activate Bureaucracy Power! Total time to deploy trailers and emergency rations increased by 2x! Whammy on the Superdome to extend your Bureaucratic combo during 'disaster sections'!

It seems silly, but really, it's a logical evolution of the "for children" public service announcements that always used to play on TV in between cartoons (stop drop and roll, how a bill becomes law etc.).

Wait, this is a joke, right? That suit looks like someone's conception of "THE FUTURE" circa 1950.

I think that's the point, you insipid monster. It’s tongue-in-cheek. Maybe you want the kids to play a serious disaster game, where the children’s character must cart the waterlogged, five-day-old corpse of what used to be their mother through the floods of Katrina, only to themselves be raped by a looting gang of disaster opportunists.

If you want kids to learn, let them be "the bad guy" who's CAUSING disasters, then the computer "good guys" do things to prevent or remedy the situation. You then ramp up the disaster, and the computer AI ramps up how it deals with it.

Much like Starcraft, you'll soon notice how the AI is using effective tactics to thwart you, and you'll remember that crap...cause it'll annoy you to know end.

Wait, this is a joke, right? That suit looks like someone's conception of "THE FUTURE" circa 1950.

I think that's the point, you insipid monster. It’s tongue-in-cheek. Maybe you want the kids to play a serious disaster game, where the children’s character must cart the waterlogged, five-day-old corpse of what used to be their mother through the floods of Katrina, only to themselves be raped by a looting gang of disaster opportunists.

You make me SICK.

I think you're the one making yourself sick, there. I know it worked on me!

Think about it, the original Dues Ex where you play as Walton Simons this time. I would expect the Katrina level would involve encircling the city with black helicopters and MiBs as the floodwaters are filled with karkians to mop up the survivors.

Wait, this is a joke, right? That suit looks like someone's conception of "THE FUTURE" circa 1950.

I think that's the point, you insipid monster. It’s tongue-in-cheek. Maybe you want the kids to play a serious disaster game, where the children’s character must cart the waterlogged, five-day-old corpse of what used to be their mother through the floods of Katrina, only to themselves be raped by a looting gang of disaster opportunists.

You make me SICK.

How does commenting on the aesthetics of the game have ANYTHING to do with his view on disaster recovery?

Wait, this is a joke, right? That suit looks like someone's conception of "THE FUTURE" circa 1950.

I think that's the point, you insipid monster. It’s tongue-in-cheek. Maybe you want the kids to play a serious disaster game, where the children’s character must cart the waterlogged, five-day-old corpse of what used to be their mother through the floods of Katrina, only to themselves be raped by a looting gang of disaster opportunists.

It seems silly, but really, it's a logical evolution of the "for children" public service announcements that always used to play on TV in between cartoons (stop drop and roll, how a bill becomes law etc.).

Except they (mostly) stopped making those (Schoolhouse Rock) in 1980, and simply re-ran the old ones until 2000. The Networks should have continued to produce such quality educational programming for children, but they squirmed out of requirements to do that. With hindsight, especially needed was education on nutrition and (what used to be called adult-onset) type 2 diabetes. Frankly, this is probably the best use of FEMA funds, more likely to provide a good return-on-investment then most of their projects.

Frankly however they need a game like this to train the ADULT disaster responders... You know with fantasy scenarios like:How to respond to a major hurricane impacting New Orleans...How to respond to a deep water oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...How to respond to a flooding in the mid-west...I could go on for days, to bad the people at FEMA don't seem to be able to...

Frankly however they need a game like this to train the ADULT disaster responders... You know with fantasy scenarios like:How to respond to a major hurricane impacting New Orleans...How to respond to a deep water oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...How to respond to a flooding in the mid-west...I could go on for days, to bad the people at FEMA don't seem to be able to...

It seems silly, but really, it's a logical evolution of the "for children" public service announcements that always used to play on TV in between cartoons (stop drop and roll, how a bill becomes law etc.).

Frak that brings back memories. Used to watch those all the time while stuffing handfuls of Cap'n Crunch in my mouth.